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Day 14-15, June 30th to July 1st
Finally a break from the high winds and we will be able to cross over to the Exumas today - we won't be crossing over completely in the "yellow" banks but will make our way over to the "white" banks so as to avoid the coral heads. It will take about a half an hour longer but in the realm of things, we'd rather take longer than smack into one of those bad boys. We left around 10:00 am and were in our slip at Highborne Cay around 2:00 pm. The water was GREAT with only a slight breeze and around a 1-2' chop which is awesome boating weather. Salty slept most of the way, I read and the Captain watched the sparkly water (with no coral heads) and the GPS chart. Such a beautiful sight as we roll into Highborne with white beach, aqua water and huge boats. The Captain did a great job of docking and we were into the slip in no time, with no effort. We even have a large dock so that means the steps/ramp can be put on and we won't have to fight to get on and off. I love those steps - well, maybe not as much now seeing as how when we were putting them on, my finger got jammed in it and it snapped a good size chunk out of my fingernail and cracked it across the middle. Lots of blood and pain - great. All I can say is thank God I have those fake nails - I think it saved my real fingernail from being split in two or even worse, the top of my finger being crushed. It could have been worse and hey, I can still type so it can't be that bad, right? So what, I'll loose a nail (eventually) and now I'm changing this story to the "Booze, Bruise and Loose Cruise"! Once that trauma was over and once we got settled, Salty and I went over to the beach and as usual, as soon as he heard those waves, off he goes into the water. Barry spent the next few hours cleaning down the back half of the boat as even though it was just a four hour cruise, the diesel exhaust wreaks havoc on the fiberglass and needs to be cleaned off. There is no restaurant here at Highborne Cay but they do have a "menu" of sorts that you can order from and they bring it to your boat at whatever time you request. We chose not to do that ($22.00 for a Conch salad?) so I served up brie and pate to the boys (yes of course Salty is one of da boys), then I made steaks and salad for dinner. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. The boats…. No, yachts are incredible in here and it seems a bit weird to be the "little guy" in the Marina with a 47' Carver. I thought we wouldn't have the luxury of internet access on the boat anymore but as it turned out, we were able to hook up to wireless here as well AND we get a really good signal to boot, even better than in Miami. Since we've been gone, not only have we been in touch with family and friends, we have also listed a condo and lot, searched the MLS and Lee county properties, prepared and emailed Listing Contracts along with requests for signs and pictures for advertising….so it's not all fun and frolic! The cell phone has also been a big plus over the satellite phone and the Captain has put it to good use on the phone with Jeanne and Sandy who are "taking care of business" on the States side, as well as, with BEST Title Solutions, Lawyer, etc.
Day 15, Friday, July 1st - Canada Day, eh! - The boat didn't move an inch last night and it was so quiet, we could have been "on land" which was such a wonderful change from the Nassau Harbour Club Marina nights. We are staying here another day but the best part is that we won't have to change slips as was the original plan yesterday. It's a big weekend here with it being July 4th on Monday and there was a large party of people who wanted to be all together which meant our boat would have been in the middle of them all - whatever. But now for some reason, it seems we don't have to move and that makes us all very happy. All three of us went to the beach at the other end of the Island which is more deserted than the one by the store and that suits us just fine. Salty had a ball! There were what appeared to be craters and humps of sand along and in the shoreline so while Barry was standing on a sandy hump out of the water; Salty was lying in the crater in the water. They actually look like icebergs floating in the Arctic (too much sun, I know). Salty was so crazy…he was charging up and down the beach, throwing himself into the water, running up on the sand and digging himself a huge hole - rolling and rubbing his face into it. Then he'd run back into the water and start digging a hole in the water and putting his face right down under water! I tried squirting water from the water bottle directly into his mouth but he was having no part of that and he wouldn't open his mouth. After several attempts at that, with him running away from me every time I got the water bottle out, he finally figured out that the water coming out of it was ok and he would drink out of it then. He'll sleep well this afternoon to say the least. We came back, had lunch then back to the beach with the dingy where Barry pumped it up and put the motor on. Of course when the guy filled his little gas tank, he filled it to the brim which meant there was no room for oil. He had to talk one of the dock hands into letting him "give" them gas for their lawnmower in order to free up space in his own tank. Obviously some communication breakdown was going on here. Anyway, he finally convinced him that it was a good thing that he would be getting free gas and he let Barry put gas into his gas tank. Barry brought the dingy back to the boat where it will be ready to be put on the swim platform tomorrow before we head out to anchor. It's so blasted hot out there, it's difficult to breathe let alone do any kind of physical activity, but at least we know the motor for the dingy works and we'll have transportation when it's time to explore some deserted islands over the next couple of days. There are no laundry facilities here but the girl at the store said she would bring whatever laundry we had home with her and bring it back in the morning - $10.00 a load. With my luck, she'll have an apartment sized washer & dryer and it'll cost $50.00 for a few pairs of shorts and shirts! I managed to pick up a bottle of bbq sauce (regular old Kraft stuff), the last measly head of broccoli and some on-the-verge-of-being-wilted lettuce for supper for $13.50 and got out of there thinking I was lucky to have what I had. All in all, dinner of salad (I managed to save the lettuce), ribs, cauliflower/broccoli and cheese sauce was delicious and we settled into a wonderful evening on board watching movies while the "party" outside was being eaten alive by mosquitoes!
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